In this edition of the SportsField Management Interview, we meet Andrew Felix, manager of grounds at Sandhills Global Youth Complex, Lincoln, Nebraska.
SportsField Management (SFM): Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to a career in sports field management?
Andrew Felix: My initial fascination with sports fields was just from playing on them. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to play several different outdoor sports, including soccer, football and baseball.
I was also an Eagle Scout, so I was very active in volunteering for neighborhood cleanups. My dad had a huge garden, and, as a kid, I was always outside mowing, pulling weeds or helping out around the household.
When I went on to college, I wanted to be a teacher and a coach, so I got my degree in history. While I was in college, I came back during the summer to work for Park Hill School District on the athletic fields I grew up playing on. I eventually worked as a full-time seasonal assistant eight months out of the year and I would go to class at night or on the weekends.
After graduation, a full-time job opened up at Park Hill School District managing the north half of the district, and it was right place, right time. I knew the role and the pace, and I thought this might be just as good of a gig — if not better — than teaching. I got to be on fields, and I got to be outside. I don’t regret that decision at all.
I worked at Park Hill School District for 14 years overall — nine of which were full time. During that time, the campus transitioned to a lot of artificial turf. My experience with that led me in February of 2025 to the job I have now at Sandhills Global Youth Complex, where I’m in charge of everything on site when it comes to buildings, grounds and field management.
SFM: What can you tell us about Sandhills Global Youth Complex and your fields/facilities?
Felix: I don’t mean to sound cliche, but it’s almost like “if you build it, they will come.” We were sold out this year — in our first year. We’ve already hosted more than 2,600 games this year, and people have come from throughout the country for youth tournaments at our facility. We have the ability to play on any given day, from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., and can provide consistent field conditions. We have eight fields, and they are all Sprinturf artificial turf.
Fields 1 through 4 are a traditional wheel arrangement with standard 300-foot fences down the line, and 325 feet to center. We have multiple base lengths and can do baseball at 60, 70, 80 and 90 feet and softball at 60 feet. We have portable mounds for every field and we have portable fences. It takes us 25 to 30 minutes to set up and 15 minutes to tear down. We can do fences at 225 feet for softball and 10-U baseball, and we’ve done 260 feet for 11-U and 275 feet for 12-U. We can adapt at any time for either sport and any age group.
Our own Sandhills league runs Monday through Thursday throughout most of the spring and summer, Legion baseball, Babe Ruth baseball, and we have two different fall leagues, as well as a softball fall league and weekend tournaments.
Field 5 is a full-sized college/pro field reserved for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Fields 6 and 7 are the home softball and baseball fields for the University of Nebraska, Wesleyan, a local Division III school. Those fields have grandstands and professional-quality dugouts. But if they’re not playing, we use those fields for our tournaments. We play anything from 11-U baseball and down on Field 6 because, as a regulation softball field, it’s a one of our smaller fields. A lot of the championships for our tournaments are on Field 7, because it’s a full-sized field.
Field 8 is only a 100-foot-fence field and is reserved for special needs athletes and people with disabilities. The dugouts and fences are extra wide, and every transition is smooth so you can wheel wheelchairs from the concourse all the way out to the field. The bases are stitched in, so there’s nothing raised on the field.
We also host 15 soccer teams per night for soccer practice. So we’re doing a little bit of everything here in our first year. It’s exciting what we can do and what we’re going to be doing moving forward.
SFM: What is your role at Sandhills, and what type of crew or staff do you have?
Felix: I’m in charge of pretty much everything on site, but I have no full time help. We have a lot of college students who work four hours a day because they have school. On a given day, I typically have three crew members in the morning who work for about four or five hours and then one person at night who works for about four or five hours. They are responsible for all field flips, transitions and setups. We try to do a lot of our field setups in the morning, but there are times when we’re going from league to tournament or tournament to league. Some of those tournament nights we are here until midnight, flipping fields, putting up fences, moving mounds, etc. So, we do a lot of work at night unless we know we have an ample amount of time the next day.
We’re a lot more efficient than what we used to be. This facility was new to everybody, so we are learning every day. All of our processes have only gotten more efficient and more effective. For example, you might be responsible for trash and bathrooms, and then you might do some field work. Everyone is trained to do everything — from field grooming and adding rubber to the mounds to scrubbing toilets.
We try to groom every field at least once in a two-week period. But some fields just don’t get a break. For example, we hosted four tournaments in 10 days. You’re not packing clay, and you’re not dragging fields, but it’s just as intense on this level when you have this many games. But it has been awesome.
Our executive director oversees the scheduling, partnerships and business operations. We also have people who handle our human resources, baseball operations and softball operations. Then we have another person who handles the gate, staffing and concessions. As mentioned, I handle all the grounds, buildings, custodial, and any contractors and subcontractors.
SFM: What’s the best part of the job?
Felix: The best part of the job is the growth. We’ve done things this year with these fields that I didn’t know was possible. That includes pushing myself and my team to meet deadlines and go outside our comfort zones. Having some people here only four to eight hours per week makes it challenging because it is more people you have to train. Finding that balance of labor was tough, and doing something on this scale is different.
It’s being able to juggle multiple things at once, think ahead, and handle bigger responsibilities. The scale is a lot larger here, so the impact is a lot larger. I’m seeing more than 100 teams per week, and I want to provide the best facility and best fields possible. I’m constantly learning, changing and improving. I couldn’t do it without my team. They came together and dealt with some intense times and heavy deadlines. Seeing how they’ve changed and came together has been one of my favorite parts.
For more information about Sandhills Global Youth Complex, visit https://sandhillsglobalyouthcomplex.com/